Unknown Old Insulation

I'm pretty sure I've never seen this stuff before. It's installed in rafters as batts, held in place by cardboard sheets below. Papery consistency, now crumbling. The house is ~1923, but no idea when this was installed.

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Never saw this, but looks a little like air-cell pipe insulation. This is considered Presumed Asbestos Containing Material. You should have it tested by an accredited Asbestos Inspector before doing anything to disturb it.

All I can say is that if it isn't known and has the appearance of something that could contain asbestos (i.e., not clearly fiberglass or mineral wool, etc), OSHA requires that it be PRESUMED to contain asbestos and treated as such until negated by testing. So if unsure, testing is required if its going to be disturbed.

Over at InspectionNews someone else offered the name "Balsam Wool" — and with a little further digging online, that led me to what I now think is the actual answer, an old Kimberly-Clark product called "Kimsul".

Pennsylvania inspector Bill Kibbel, here, describes Kimsul as "layered creped paper," which fits my first impression of the stuff. The photo doesn't convey this very well. And as Ted Kidd says, it's pretty deteriorated at this point.

Kibbel seems certain that Kimsul was manufactured asbestos-free. NY inspector Debra Monte, on the other hand, here seems equally sure of the contrary. So at this point I'm expecting to have to get it tested. — I canned the BD test on my visit date, incidentally, because of this stuff.

We had a sample of the insulation lab-tested, and the result was a negative without qualification — no asbestos found. This is only one case, of course. For all I know, some of the product was made with asbestos and some wasn't. But it would seem that it's wrong to say definitively that Kimsul has asbestos in it.

Still wise to wear a dust mask in any attic and around insulation generally, of course.

1933Kimsul Insulation- Seeking new ways to introduce its products for consumer use, Kimberley-Clark created Kimsul, a home insulating product made of creped wadding, impregnated with asphalt. Originally, Kimsul began as insulation paneling for refrigerators. Later, the product appeared in automobiles as dashboard insulation.Kimsul was promoted as the insulation with many-layer construction; unlike then-typical loose bulk insulation, Kimsul had layers stitched together to form a blanket of uniform thickness.In connection with a famous 1948 movie, "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, Kimsul was advertised as the insulation used in the dream house. The product was easy to install and was resistant to fire, moisture, fungus, vermin and termites. National advertising for the product urged consumers to "Wrap your home in a blanket of Kimsul." Earlier, Kimsul had been the standard material for insulating Navy quonset huts (prefabricated metal buildings) during World War II. It gave protection against the tropical heat and Alaskan cold.